JANESVILLE — Connie Winter has filed paperwork indicating she will not seek re-election to the Rock County Board of Supervisors in April.
The announcement was made in a news release from Rock County Clerk Lisa Tollefson’s office on Tuesday.
Winter represents District 4, which includes the town of Janesville’s fourth ward, wards 2-4 in the town of Milton and wards 1-6 in the town of Fulton.
“I’m still on the board so I don’t want to say anything that will make my time on the board compromised,” Winter said. “I’ve enjoyed my time on the board but there has been so much time spent with bad behavior and backstabbing instead of spending tax dollars wisely.”
Winter said she has appreciated serving on the board and working with county staff members, but she cited dysfunction on the county board as her reason for stepping away from the board. Winter said she had “never been a part of something so dysfunctional.”
“The people who work at the county are tremendous. I just feel that the people on the board are dysfunctional,” Winter said. “Everyone is going to point their finger to one person. It’s not just one person. There’s people who have been on the board for a long time who didn’t want to listen.”
Winter did not name that “one person.”
Winter did not rule out running for county board again.
“If there would be different leadership I probably would,” Winter said.
Winter, a resident of Fulton, said running for Fulton Town Board may be an option in the future too.
In 2023, several board members resigned from the board, including Russ Podzilni, Brent Fox, Jim Farrell and Rick Richard.
Two sets of anonymous fliers have targeted various county board members and County Administrator Josh Smith. On April 14, Mike Zoril attempted to remove an item from a board agenda to proclaim April 20-27 “Staind Against Racism Week” in the county. When defending his stance, Zoril said that the resolution had the potential to violate people’s 1st, 5th and 14th amendment rights, and that the resolution had the potential of “causing new forms of discrimination while attemption to address existing ones.” His stance led to a walkout of multiple members of the board. The board also struggled over its 2024 budget, almost passing a $2.3 million cut on the night it was adopted, leading to immediate criticism about waiting until the last minute. That was countered with frustration that the tax levy went from $70.5 million for 2023 to $75.5 million for 2024.
People interested in running for Rock County Board have until Tuesday, Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. to file candidacy paperwork and to get a minimum of 50 signatures and maximum of 100 signatures. The deadline for county board members to file a noncandidacy notice is Friday, Dec. 22 at 5 p.m.
